Improvement in device for indicating the elevation of ordnance



C. B. LONG.

' Sight for Ordnance.

Patented July 29 1862.

CHARLES E. LONG, or wononsrnn,

Parana Danica MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIM- SELF, AUGUSTUS RICE, AND JONATHAN LUTHER.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICE FOR lNDlCATlNG THE ELEVATION OF ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,054l, dated July 9, 1862.

I0 (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES B. Lone, of

Worcester, in the county of Vorcester and tate of llslassachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Device for Determining the Elevation of Cannon and other Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view of a cannon having my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the apparatus on a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding partsin the several figures.

This invention consists in the combination of an index attached to or forming part of a pendulum whose plane of oscillation is intended to be parallel with the axis of the bore of the cannon or other piece of ordnance, and a pendulous scale or dial whose plane of oscillation is intended to be perpendicular to the bore, the said scale or dial being suspended in or upon bearings which are to be attached to the trunnion or other part of one side of the piece, and the pendulum carrying the index being suspended from the said dial or' scale, upon which the index will indicate the elevation of the gun under all conditions.

It also consists in the combination,with such pendulum and pendulous scale or dial, of a locking-hook so applied as to be capable of locking the scale or dial in fixed positions rela tively to the gun, that the whole device may be preserved from being injured by the movements of the piece when the gun is not in aetual use.

The invention is applicable to all kinds of ordnance for either fort, field, or naval service.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The device isrepresented in the drawings as attached to the left-haud trunnion, t, of the gun. A is a frame, of brass or other metal, which carries all the moving parts of the device, made with two arms containing the bearings for the knife-edged or V-shaped journals a a of the pendulous frame or dial B, on the upper part of which the scale bis engraved or otherwise suitably inscribed. The said frame A is bolted rigidly to the end of the trunnion in such a position that the common axis of the journals a a is exactly parallel with the bore of the gun.

O is the pendulum which carries the index 0, suspended from the lower part of the frame by means of a pin, (Z, which is arranged transversely to the axis of the journals a a. The pendulum is received in a mortise in the swing ing frame 13, which allows it to occupythe same plane as the axis of the journals a a, and hence its weight not only tends to keep the index c upright, as shown in Fig. l, but to keep the frame B upright, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and to keep the pin 01 horizontal and perpendicular to a vertical plane passing longitudinally through the axis of the bore of the gun. The scale b is on an arc concentric with the axis of the index pin or pointer c, and is graduated in degrees of a circle, and as the scale moves with the gun in the movements of the latter in vertical planes, and the index 0 always remains vertical, the index will always indicate upon the said scale the elevation of the gun in degrees, and so afford facility for the adjustment of the elevation, as maybe required.

In naval guns the facility with which the elevation may be obtained by this -device is very great as compared with that afforded by the devices heretofore used, as the elevation can be determined notwithstanding,or without regard to,the pitching and rolling of the vessel.

D is an are rigidly attached to the fixed frame A, and occupying a position concentric with and perpendicular to the axis of the knife-edge journals a a, and having inscribed upon it a scale of degrees. e is an index attached rigidly to the swinging frame 13, or con sisting of a projection cast thereon, and serving to indicate upon the above-mentioned scale on D when the trunnions t are level or the degree of their inclination.

E is the locking-hook connected by ahinge, f, with the bottom of the frame A. g is aslot in the pendulum O for the reception of the said hook. WVhen the gun is in use, this looking-hook hangs down as shown in dotted outline in Figs. 1 and 2, and does not interfere dcX-pointer c, and swinging; frame or dial B with the oscillation ofthe pendulum and swinghaving a scale, I), the whole arranged to oper ing dial or frame B; but when the gun is not in ate substantially as herein set forth. use, the said hook is brought up to the slot 9 2. The hook E, applied in combination with and hooked on the lower edge thereof, and, as the frame A, and with a slot, in the penduit fits between the sides of the said slot, it prelum O, to operate substantially as and for the vents the oscillation of the pendulum in any purpose herein specified. direction, and also prevents the frame B from CHARLES B LONG swinging.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the pendulum G, in-

VVitnesses GEO. P. BIGELOW', WM. GREENLEAF. 

